Hinged container with a sliding cover



De@ 9, 1969 YASUMICHI lro ETAL 3,482,757

HINGED CONTAINER WITH A SLIDING COVER Filed June 2l, 1968 HQI 2 m. LI

INVENT OR 5.

M m A Ilm IWM HT w w M www KU MAS ATTORNEYS Ullid States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE hinged container with a sliding cover acting as the locking 'means'for keeping the container closed and forming therewith triple thickness side walls for maintaining the container light-proof.

The present invention relates to hinged containers employing sliding covers, particularly to those types of hinged containers which normally do not employ locking means for keeping the container closed.

Containers in the past have been provided with sliding covers, but such containers have a relatively narrow opening compared with the depth of the container and with the prior art container not hinged, it is difficult to place papers or other articles into the container or remove the same with the eiciency in handling therefore very low.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container which employs a sliding cover and which is readily opened and closed by hinging the same at one end thereof to facilitate inserting and removing articles from the container.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a container of this type which is light-proof for storing light-sensitive materials such as photographic films while enabling the films to be easily handled and readily placed into and removed from the container.

The above objects and the brief introduction to the present invention will be more fully understood and further objects and advantages will become apparent from a study of the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded, perspective view of the container including body portion and a cover portion in accordance with the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the opened body portion of the container of FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View of the container taken about lines III-III of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings, a container in accordance with the present invention consists of two portions, a body portion indicated generally at 1 and a cover portion 2. The body portion 1 consists of a container type left half or bottom portion 3 having oppositely disposed side walls 12 connected to the edges of a bottom wall 10 and a rear wall 14 of a height approximately one-half that of the side walls 12, and a cover type right half or top portion 4 having oppositely disposed side walls 12', connected to the edges of a top wall and a rear wall 14', the rear wall 14 again being yof a height approximately one-half of that of the side walls 12. The container type left half portion 3 and the cover type right half portion 4 are hinged at the rear end thereof and when closed, both portions 3 and 4 are covered by being received within the sliding cover portion 2 of the container. On the outer surface of the left half portion 3, there is provided an outer container portion 11 having a rear wall and opposed side walls 15 of a height approximately one-half that of the rear wall. On the outer surface of the right 3,482,757 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 ice half portion 4, there is provided an outer container portion 11' having a rear wall and opposed side walls'lS of a height approximately one-half that of the rear wall. The side walls 15 and 15 are fitted together to form an outer sidewall exterior ofthe inside side walls 12, 12'.

4 When the container is closed, the side walls 12 of the right half portion are inserted into the spaces existing between the outer side walls 15 and the side walls 12.

The side walls 12 and 12 and 15 and 15 engage each other and form a labyrinth of light-proof side Walls. On the open'end of the container, there are provided front walls 13 and 13' of the same height as the side walls 12 and 12. Again, the front walls 13 and 13' engage each other tol forml a labyrinth wall at the opening end when the hinged container is closed. When the container is used for the packaging of light-sensitive materials such as photographic films, a light shielding lm 20 is provided at the hinged ends of the container exterior of the side walls 12 and 12 to insure the light-proofing of the container when closed as best indicated in FIGURE 2.

The sliding cover 2 is slid onto the end of the hinged container body portion 1 when closed as indicated in FIGURE 1 so as to receive the same. Since the hinged body portion 1 is maintained in closed position by the cover 2, special locking means are not necessary for keeping the container closed. Since the container in accordance with the present invention is constructed in a hinged body manner and is provided with a sliding cover, it has various practical eiects as described hereinbelow:

When placing a plurality of sheet materials such as photographic lilrn sheets into the prior art containers employing sliding covers, since the opening at one end is very narrow and the container is usually not flexible, the ends of the film which are capable of being bent or folded causes great difficulty in placing the sheet materials smoothly into the container. However, when using the hinged container of the present invention, since the container itself is hinged and openable the container is merely opened to readily facilitate placement of the articles within the container. Thus, not only are the photographic sheet films easily placed in the container, but the quantity or number of the sheets placed within the container is materially increased. Thus, by using the container container constructed in accordance with the present invention, the efliciency of the packaging process is greatly increased.

When removing articles carried by the container of the prior art type, the container had to be positioned upside down and the container then had to be shaken for gravity discharge of the tightly contained articles therein. However, when removing contained material within the container of the present invention, the container is opened by removing the cover and opening the container body by pivoting the container body parts about the axis formed by the hinge and the material carried thereby is easily removed.

Where it is neither diflicult to insert or remove contained material, a container need not be opened since the contained material may be taken out by the mere removal of the sliding cover 2. Further, since the side walls 0f the container of the present invention involve triple plys, the container is both durable and solid.

Further in the prior art hinged container, locking means of a special type were required for keeping the container in the closed position; but, in the container formed in accordance with the present invention, no special locking means are required since the sliding cover serves both as the means for light sealing the container, and for maintaining the container body portion closed. Further, while the container may be employed as a hinged container in some cases or as a non-hinged container in other cases, the construction remains extremely vided both for the purpose of preventing-theend'portion" of the bottoms 10 and 10'v from being flexed inwardly towards each other and also since the contained material may be light-sensitive material such as film, it is protected from the exterior light even if the sliding cover 2 may be carelessly removed. When the container body 1 is not required to be open about its hinged end during its use, the container body portions 3 and 4 may be maintained in closed position by adhesive tapes or the like attached to the side walls 15 and 15 and the front walls 13 and 13.

What is claimed is:

1. A container comprising: a hinged body including two oppositely opening body portions and a slidable cover for receiving and partially covering the body when in closed position, said body portions having recessed planar side wall, top wall and bottom wall surfaces at the opening end thereof, and said cover being so dimensioned such that, when said cover receives said recessed surfaces of said body portions, the outside surfaces of said cover lie flush with the non-recessed surface portions of said hinged body.

2. The container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said body comprises a container type left half portion and a cover type right half portion and means for hingeably coupling the left and rightehalf portions at-the'end of the body opposite that receiving said slidable cover.

3. The hinged container as claimed in claim 2 wherein said left and right half body portions further include outer container portions having opposite side walls of a height one-half the height of said half portion side walls, said side walls of said outer portions being tted together to form with the side walls of the half portions when closed, a triple thickness container side wall.

4. The container as claimed inY claim 1 further including opaque lms carried on the opposite sides of said con tainer half portion side walls adjacent said hinged coupling.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,662,028 3/1928 Gold et al 206-4'1 2,744,676 5/1956 Sealy 229-44 3,369,730 2/1968 Bowman 229-44 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 20'6-41; 229-44 

